Ken Takakura, Japanese Film Actor, Dies at 83

Ken Takakura, who became a star playing outlaws and stoic heroes in scores of Japanese films, died on Nov. 10 in Tokyo. He was 83.

His office said he died at a hospital where he was being treated for lymphoma.

Mr. Takakura, who because of his quiet, brooding screen presence was often compared to Clint Eastwood, made his screen debut in 1956 and rose to fame in the 1960s in crime films like “Abashiri Prison” (1965). Much of his appeal stemmed from his image as a hero fighting authority figures on behalf of the poor and weak.

He won a best-actor award at the Montreal World Film Festival for his performance in the 1999 film “Railroad Man.” He also appeared in a number of American movies, notably as a police inspector in Ridley Scott’s "Black Rain” (1989), with Michael Douglas, and — in one of his rare comic roles — as a coach in “Mr. Baseball” (1992), with Tom Selleck. His first major American movie was “The Yakuza” (1974), directed by Sydney Pollack and starring Robert Mitchum.

Though he often played outlaws, Mr. Takakura said contemporary gangster movies did not interest him. "I like movies that pierce the human heart and linger with me,” he said in an interview that appeared on the media website Japan Subculture Research Center earlier this year.

Born Goichi Oda in Fukuoka, Japan, on Feb. 16, 1931, he did not set out to be an actor but was recruited by a major film production company while applying for a managerial position. In his last film, “Dearest” (2012), Mr. Takakura played a retired prison warden who embarks on a road trip to fulfill his dead wife’s last wish. His office said he was preparing for his next project while he was in the hospital.

Last year, when Mr. Takakura received one of Japan’s highest honors in the arts, the Order of Culture, at the Imperial Palace, he noted that he was best known for playing characters far removed from those exalted precincts.

“In movies, I’m most often an ex-convict,” he said. “I’m grateful for the award despite many of these roles I’ve played.”

A version of this article appears in print on , on Page B16 of the New York edition with the headline: Ken Takakura, 83, Japanese Actor in Stoic Roles. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe